I'll Always Come Back to You
by Anath Tsurugi
Summary: "What- what's happenin?" Zeb asked. "Cassian and the others are back. They've brought us a proper shipment. Now come on. Get up. We're getting an early start today," Kallus explained. "What? Why?" Zeb whined, clearly less than eager to get up so early. "We're going to bake cookies." (Sequel to 'And the Dark of Night is Closing in on You')


(A/N) So this is a little piece I've been meaning to write for a while now. Just didn't get around to it for about a year or so. By merit of where in the timeline it falls, it's much more bittersweet than its predecessor, but it's still full of warm and fuzzy feels. So take that for what it's worth. You know how rare that is with me. *guilty shrug* You won't be lost if you haven't read said predecessor. All you really need to know is that the Spectres were on Hoth before the Battle of Yavin and that Rogue One is not dead. In the meantime, enjoy!

**I'll Always Come Back to You**

Hera didn't know _why_ she hadn't told the other High Command leaders about Hoth after the Spectres' little stint on the frozen world. Perhaps, on a somewhat impractical level, it had been a special place to her family...a place where they'd all come together for a quiet, peaceful moment in the middle of all the fighting. Then, well...then a rather sizable chunk of that family had been lost, and perhaps some small, selfish part of her had wanted to keep the memory of the icy world to herself...the other Spectres feeling much the same.

Maybe she'd even been afraid? Afraid to return to Hoth without Kanan and Ezra. But when all their other options following the Battle of Yavin hadn't played out, she'd had little choice but to suddenly remember one last alternative.

So to Hoth the Rebel Alliance had gone.

Echo Base could hardly be considered a base at this early stage, though. Unlike many of their earlier locations, they couldn't just inhabit an already existing structure. They were having to dig down into the ice to create livable and workable spaces for themselves. As such, construction was slow-going and they could only bring so many of their forces planet-side at once. So, with her own misgivings about the planet and the strenuous amount of hours going into the construction of the base, was it any wonder that maybe the Twi'lek general wasn't necessarily firing on all cylinders?

She and Kallus were going over the schematics for the latest expansion when the ex-Imperial heard it.

"So if we have Wes' crew-"

"Hera," he interrupted her with a hand over hers, "do you hear that?"

"What?"

The next moment, almost a moment too late, she heard it – an ugly, ominous groaning and rumbling.

"Heads up!" Alex shouted just before the tunnel behind the work crew cracked overhead and began to cave in.

The next moments were a bit of a blur as Hera dove for cover, but thankfully the collapse was small and she was emerging from hiding just as soon as the sounds of collapsing, shattering ice had subsided.

"Is everyone all right?" she called out. "Sound off!"

As she listened for the calls of the work crew, she also picked up on the distinct sound of Zeb's panicked voice over Alex's comlink.

"Alex! What the _kriff_ was that? What's goin' on? Is Hera with you? Are you all right?"

"We're fine, _ni ashkerra,_" Alex was immediately reassuring his husband between assisting trapped workers. "A bit of tunnel collapsed. No one appears to be seriously injured though."

"And you're definitely all right?" Zeb clarified. "I'm not gonna bust in there and find you with a crushed limb or somethin'?"

"Zeb, I'm fine. I promise you."

"Good. We're on our way. Skywalker's gonna try some Force trick to get you guys outta there."

Hera exchanged a nervous glance with the ex-Imperial at that. Not that Commander Luke Skywalker wasn't a good kid and all, but he didn't exactly have all that much experience in wielding the Force.

It was, however, easy to tell that they didn't have a lot of options from this angle. Apart from the now blocked tunnel, the only way out would be to continue excavating into the next cave, and that could take several hours. Plus the fact it was a step above suicide to risk another cave-in while they were trapped.

They didn't have long to consider the situation further, though, as the groan and skitter of shifting rock and ice soon made its way to them from the other side of the collapse. Then they actually saw some of the rubble beginning to shift.

"Whoa! Easy there, kid," Zeb's voice came through to Hera. "You're gonna wind up on your ass."

"If- if I can just...get it...a little farther. Then you guys cane dig them out." That one was Luke's voice.

"Luke, be careful!" she scolded him in a loud voice. "You don't need to be pushing yourself too hard."

"It's all right, General. I can- handle this."

Who could say what it was (perhaps that he reminded her _so much_ of Ezra, or of what her own son's situation might someday be), but Hera had taken to mothering the young commander. Just a little bit. She was only too aware of how difficult what he was going through was; and Ezra, at least, had had someone to...show him the way.

_Kanan..._

Before too long, several chunks of ice near the top of the collapse began to tumble inward.

"Back up. Keep clear," Alex warned the others, waving them away as more and more debris fell into the space. Then Zeb's large purple hands appeared, clawing away the ice flow that was keeping them trapped. Once he had cleared enough space, he stuck his head through the small opening.

"C'mon. You can climb through up here. Skywalker's holdin' it steady from this side."

"Hurry," Alex started, hurrying their fellow rebels up to Zeb with his typical efficiency. "Quickly now. He can't hold it forever."

Once the work crew was out, part of her was tempted to force Alex to leave before her, but she and him had mostly learned better than to argue by this point, so she allowed him to help her climb the rubble up to Zeb, who quickly pulled her through to the other side. Sliding carefully to the floor, she looked over to see Luke deep in concentration, both keeping the mound Zeb stood on from collapsing further and keeping anything else from caving in on top of the Lasat. Just one look at the young Force-user's straining face told her he couldn't keep it up much longer.

"Hurry," she urged as she looked back up at Zeb, seeing him helping Alex crawl through the little hole. But just as he was slipping through, Luke lost his control, sending several more loads of ice and stone nipping at the ex-Imperial's heels.

Holding his husband tightly against his chest, Zeb kept the human cocooned as they tumbled down from the mound, taking the brunt of their fall onto himself and shielding Alex from further injury.

"Zeb? _Zeb!_ Are you all right?!" Alex demanded once the debris had again fallen still, struggling to break free of the Lasat's hold. Zeb gave a small chuckle as he sat up.

"I'm fine, love. Few bruises, maybe, but no broken bones. I'm just glad _you're_ safe," he said, offering up a gentle smile before pressing a kiss to the ex-Imperial's lips, which Alex smiled right into.

Luke, meanwhile, had half-collapsed against the side of the tunnel, breathing like he'd just run a kilometer and wiping a sheen of sweat from his face. Moving to his side, Hera rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Everyone all right?" he asked, slowly looking up at her.

"Of course we are. What about you?" she asked him.

"I'm fine. I'm all right," he said, unsuccessfully trying to wave her off. "Someday I'll get all this Jedi stuff figured out."

"I want everyone to get checked out by medical," Hera called to the group at large. "An extra rest shift too, after you've all been cleared."

"Assumin' that means you, too?" Zeb asked as he and Kallus got to their feet.

"I need to see about getting the next crew on shift early. So I assume you'll get these two boys over to medical."

"Hera-"

"There's too much to get through for _me_ to be taking extra rest. This base needs to be up and running."

"If you don't-"

"This is all on me anyway!" Hera snapped at her fellow Spectres. "I should've seen it."

"Hera," Alex interrupted gently, "if that's how this is to be, this is no less on me. I was there, too."

"I'm sorry," she said with a frustrated sigh. "I know I- it's just- this _place_..."

"Hera," Zeb was the one to interrupt this time, moving toward her with open arms, "we miss 'em, too."

She very much wanted to resist the hug he pulled her into – it wasn't the time, there was work to do, all of it – but at the same time, she knew she needed it. So she let herself briefly disappear in the soft, warm embrace of her friend.

"If you're not gonna get checked out, you should at least spend your lunch hour with Chirrut and the kids. You need a breather."

"But-"

"C'mon, general. Go. Alex and I'll take care of the rest."

"Zeb-"

"Don't make me carry you back to the _Ghost_. Because I will."

"He will, too," Alex reminded her with a small, pointed smile. "And I will one hundred percent allow it."

Hera sighed, but ultimately nodded. "Just don't make me regret agreeing to this."

"Really? When have I _ever_ made you regret trusting me?" the Lasat asked with a near comical grin.

"Why would you ask her a question you _know_ she'll answer, _ni alitha,_" Alex chided him before Hera could say anything. Rather than call the Lasat out, she opted to leave him to his husband. If nothing else, she knew she could trust the former Imperial to get Luke and himself over to medical for the requisite checkup.

Hera wasn't aware of most of the walk back to her ship, she was so exhausted. Part of her was tempted to spend the rest period sleeping, but then she might not see Jacen before he went to bed tonight, and she was absolutely insistent on not being that kind of mother, whatever their situation happened to be.

Chopper was the first to greet her as she approached the _Ghost_.

"No, Chop. It's still in one piece," she said in response to his string of harried whistles. He continued whirring as they headed up the ramp together. "Seriously? Don't we get any more credit than that?"

"Mama!" Jacen called out as he came barreling toward her, crashing into her legs with a shriek of laughter.

"Hey, there, little meiloorun. You haven't been giving Chirrut any trouble, have you?" she asked him, scooping the almost-three-year-old up in her arms

"No more than usual," the blind Guardian called from the common area with his typical serene amusement. "We were just about to start lunch if you'd like to join."

"Well, that is the idea."

Just before Hera entered the common area, another little head appeared in the entryway – a young half-Togruta with more human coloring and very distinct brown eyes.

"Aunty Hera! Aunty Hera's home!" Mirjahaal Tano cheered, looking like she very much _wanted_ to jump up and down, but was reining herself in.

"Home for lunch at least. What are we having?"

"You came just in time. The New Spectres took a _whole crate_ of jogan fruit from the Empire today," the four-and-a-half-year-old declared officiously, taking Hera's hand and escorting her and Jacen to the table, where Chirrut was already sitting with Jyn and Cassian's little ones, Gale and Erina.

"Oh? Really? A whole crate?" Hera asked with a suppressed chuckle, setting Jacen in his place next to the twins. The pair of toddlers were not quite two yet, but already _very_ mobile, so it was always best to box them in come mealtimes.

"Uh-huh. Right out from under the Imps' noses," the little girl regaled as she climbed into her place beside Jacen. She was the leader of this ragtag band of children she'd dubbed the New Spectres. "So we have fresh fruit and Jacen's secret recipe mud pie."

"Pie, pie, pie, pie, PIE!" Erina trilled gleefully as Chirrut helped her eat the pieces of ration bar that had been cut up for her and her brother. In truth, they were overdue on their latest shipments of supplies, so even the little ones were down to just ration bars and protein packs. Even so, there was something precious about watching their ability to look at a plain brown stick of processed foodstuff and nutrients and declare that, no, it was not a ration bar, but a whole feast of roast bantha and fresh fruit.

"Jacen," she started to ask her son in amazement as she pulled a chair up to the table, "where did you manage to find mud on Hoth? It's an ice planet."

Her baby boy smiled at her, raising a finger to his lips. "Seee-crit. Secrit, Mama. Shhhhh."

"Oh, of course. Top secret," she agreed, reaching for one of the smaller protein packs Chirrut had laid out in an effort to make the meager spread seem more like an actual meal. She could almost ignore the taste and texture of the stuff as she continued to listen to Mira go on. "So what are the New Spectres' plans for the rest of the day, Spectre-N2?"

"We're going to raid an Imp _convoy_," Mira declared proudly, only struggling a little with her new word. A born commander, just like her mother and father. "Spectre-N1's been spying on them and he says today's the day to make our move."

"Ah. Then what's your plan, Spectre-N1?" she asked Jacen. Mira was the leader, but she always insisted that Jacen have the Spectre One designation, even if he was too young to understand why.

"Send Gale and Rini," the little Spectre declared through a mouthful of ration bar. "Secrit weap'n!"

Hera laughed as the twins began to wave their arms and screech with excitement. "Brilliant strategy, Spectres. No Imperial can withstand the tantrums of _one_ toddler. Never mind two at once."

"Hey, Uncle Chirrut! _Catch!_" Mira was suddenly calling out, pulling a little ball from her tunic and throwing it at the blind Guardian.

Without even breaking stride in wiping a line of drool from Gale's chin, Chirrut reached out a hand and caught the ball.

"All too easy, little commander," he told her with a grin.

"How do you _do_ that?" she demanded of him, still in awe, even though the same thing happened every time she tried the trick.

"You will learn, Mirjahaal. With time, you will learn. And now, little commander, it is _your_ turn," he said, tossing the ball back to her.

Mira immediately threw up her hands, stopping the ball and making it float in mid-air. Her eyes widened when the ball didn't fall, her face quickly breaking into a triumphant grin.

"It worked! It worked! Haha! Jacen, you see?" she called out in excitement, turning toward the little boy to show him.

Jacen's eyes widened in reflected awe, shining. "The Force," he said slowly, pointing at the floating ball. "Daddy."

Hera's breath caught at that, feeling a tiny twinge in her chest, though she still smiled to see her son's wonder. As he and Mira looked at each other, she could see them speaking in that odd little way they had. With nothing but their eyes, probably with the Force as well, though Hera had no way of knowing the depths of a connection like that.

Whatever Mira had said to Jacen, it had likely been something along the lines of 'Wanna try?', because her son was soon holding up his own hands, a look of intense concentration on his face as Mira slowly lowered hers. Then he was holding the toy aloft all by himself.

"Mama! _Mama!_ Lookit!" Jacen shouted for her. Normally, he would be bouncing up and down in his seat, but not this time. This time he was focused absolutely on the ball he was levitating just above his head.

"I see you, mei-mei. You're doing _so_ well," she told him, resisting the urge to tousle his hair and break his concentration.

_Are you here, Kanan? Do you see this? Do you see our little boy?_

The rest of the meal consisted largely of Mira and Jacen passing the ball back and forth to one another. If nothing else, Hera appreciated how Chirrut could always manage to make it a game for them. Even if he couldn't teach them the ways of the Jedi, he could at least help them to know the Force. She had to take her comfort where she could, because it wasn't always easy. It was _never_ easy, really...being without Kanan.

_I miss you, love. I wish you could be here with us._

XxX

Kallus had no idea what it was that woke him, but whatever it was, the ex-Imperial suddenly found himself wide awake after coming out of a dead sleep.

There was no threat that he could see. Zeb lay beside him, sound asleep on the open side of the two bunks they had bolted together, while he lay against the wall. There were no unusual sounds he could hear. Just the typical noises of the night crews working their shifts. There wasn't even anything he could hear from any of the children asleep aboard the _Ghost_. During waking hours, such a concept would be an ominous premonition of the worst order, but during the night cycle, it was a blessing. So now the question was...why wasn't he taking advantage of that blessing?

Rolling onto his side, he reached out to gently caress his husband's shoulder, just to feel the velvet-fine fur beneath his fingertips.

"_L'ashkerrir an,_" he said softly, lips following after his fingers in a tender kiss. The Lasat hummed faintly in his sleep.

Then, quite suddenly, the relative peace of the night was interrupted by the sound of sniffling from the floor beside the bed. Before too long, a head of tousled brown hair appeared over the side of the bunk and a pair of wide brown eyes was peering pleadingly at him.

"Unca Lex," Erina Erso whined plaintively. "Ba' seep."

Erina didn't yet have the word 'dream' in her vocabulary, so she tended to call bad dreams bad sleep.

"Oh. It's all right, dear heart," he soothed the little girl as he sat up, holding out his arms for her. "Come here."

Rini climbed up out of the little portable bed she and her brother slept in, scrambling up onto the bunk. Alex barely had time to lift her over Zeb before she simply clambered right over him. Smiling easily in the darkness, he settled Cassian's daughter in his lap, gently patting her back while he held her close.

"There now, we're all right. Aren't we, Rini."

Rini trembled as she clung to him. Whatever monsters had pursued her in her nightmares, she trusted her uncle to protect her from them, and he was only too happy to step in and protect her when her father couldn't.

He couldn't say how long they sat like that, but after a time he started to hum quietly for her – a soft, indistinct lullaby. He'd nearly sent him_self_ to sleep when his voice finally fell off.

"Wish you'd do that more often," Zeb's gentle voice came through the following silence. "Love the sound a' your voice."

Alex smirked as he looked down at his husband, seeing the Lasat awake beside him.

"Would you like me to sing _your_ nightmares away, _ni ashkerra_?"

"Wouldn't say no," he returned, reaching out a hand to stroke Rini's back.

Before the ex-Imperial could respond in any way, the blare of an inbound ship's alarm sounded, alerting the pair that something was happening.

"Here. Take her," Alex said, passing the once more fussy toddler over to Zeb before climbing over him to get out of bed. "I'll find out what's happening."

Gale had started to wake up, too, but Alex had to leave the situation to Zeb as he pulled his coat and boots on over his sleep clothes. He was partly surprised not to run into Hera on his way outside, but if the Twi'lek was tired enough to sleep through the commotion, he certainly wasn't going to interrupt the little sleep she did get. When he hurried down the _Ghost's_ gangway, it was to the sight of a familiar freighter settled in the hangar, its hull pockmarked with several small fires.

One person, at least, had beaten him out of the _Ghost_. Chirrut was standing at the foot of the gangway, leaning against his staff as he listened to the commotion. Ultimately, he smiled, shaking his head.

"Well, the _Stardust_ has survived worse."

The _Stardust_ was the ship that the Rogue One team currently ran missions on – a freighter they'd been granted after their heroics on Scarif. Typically, whenever one group was off on assignment, their collective little ones would remain planetside with the group that was not. And from the looks of things, this had been a particularly interesting assignment. Solo and a few members of Rogue Squadron were getting the fires put out while Chewbacca half-carried an injured Bodhi from the ship, Jyn, Cassian, and Baze not far behind.

"This is why I never let you fly the _Falcon_, Erso."

"Eh, _I_ wasn't flying this time, and it's not as if you treat your ship all that much better. There are more than a few instances I could name you've flown in with the _Falcon_ on fire," Jyn fired back.

"Yeah...well...not _this_ time, sister!" Han snapped at his fellow former smuggler.

Chewie chided something at both of them in his own language, which Alex could only partly get the gist of, but Han's response rather clenched it.

"Okay, fine. I'll give you that one. But if _Lady Erso_ here thinks she can do better on five credits and two hours of sleep, she can just-"

Whatever the man had _meant_ to say was cut off when a shower of sparks exploded in his face. Chewie gave a derisive bark of laughter before pulling Bodhi out of the hangar.

"So...Imperial entanglement?" Alex asked as he and Chirrut approached the remaining members of Rogue One.

"Not actually, no," Cassian responded, pulling his attention away from the _Stardust_ and back to his mentor. "Trouble with the local gang at our last rendezvous. Didn't take kindly to us, ah...making off with their hard-stolen shipment."

"I was under the impression you were meant to be _opening_ supply lines. Not _closing_ them," Alex pointed out, raising an eyebrow at his protege.

"Yeah, that didn't work out so well. Figured the mission may as well not be a _total_ loss. Bastards had it coming," the Fulcrum agent declared with a shrug and a tilt of his head.

"Well, at least only the _ship_ is on fire this time and not all of you," Chirrut said with a small grin as he drew close to his husband. Baze rolled his eyes before pressing his forehead to Chirrut's.

"Had _you_ been there, _Xino-ai_, I'm certain we all _would_ be on fire."

"So what _have_ you brought us?" Alex asked before the couple could devolve into their typical snark exchanges.

"Small weapons cache. But this one is mostly food stores. Even a few crates of _proper_ food," Jyn said with a small sigh and a resigned smile.

"Good. Our regular shipments are overdue. We sorely need it. The little ones might have something fresh for breakfast," Alex said, his own smile probably more relieved than he would want to admit.

"How have my little kraytlings been?" Jyn asked, looking like she was very much fighting the desire to abandon them all and go see for herself.

"Gale's been eating better, so it will be good to get some proper food in him. Rini hasn't been sleeping well without her Uncle Bodhi nearby, but I suppose I'm an acceptable substitute. What might we be able to whip up for breakfast come morning?"

"Anything you think you can cook, I'd say," Cassian said. "There's actual flour in the shipment."

"Really?" Alex asked, something faint sparking in his memory...of the first time he'd been on Hoth...the first mission he'd run with the Spectres... "Have you- had a chance to run a proper inventory?"

"We have now," came the voice of the last member of the team as he rolled down the _Stardust's_ gangway. Kaytoo, boasting an astromech body and a custom Sabine paint job following the events on Scarif, offered a datapad to Alex after trundling up to him. "Though the shipment would be considerably larger if Cassian would permit me to use my security protocols."

Most people would ask what security protocols the former Imperial security droid could still use after having to take up in an astromech body, but those people, Alex would be inclined to guess, had never known Chopper or Artoo. After hearing some of the things Kaytoo had to say, he was quite relieved astromechs were not typically equipped with Basic vocoders.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get your chance sometime, Kay," Alex said as he began to go through the inventory, and as he went down the list, an idea began to take shape in his head. After they'd...lost Kanan...the ex-Imperial had taken up the Jedi's cooking habits as a sort of tribute to his memory. And now, with Hera having so much trouble just _being_ on Hoth again, maybe there was something they could do for her...

Not long after, Alex was slipping back into his and Zeb's quarters, a small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. That grin only grew wider when he saw just _how_ his husband had fallen back asleep. The Lasat was sitting up in bed, back propped against the far wall, dozing peacefully with Rini cuddled against his chest and Gale's head resting against his leg. The three of them looked so precious just snoozing like that, Alex almost hated to wake Zeb, but they would have to get started soon if this was going to work. Lifting Gale and gently laying him in his little bed, he then moved to disentangle Rini from the Lasat's arms.

It didn't take more than that to wake Zeb from his comparatively light sleep. He at first tried to hold onto Rini, but then blinked awake and realized it was just his husband.

"What- what's happenin'?" he asked, still blinking sleepily as he surrendered the little girl to Alex's hold.

"Cassian and the others are back. They've brought us a proper shipment. Now come on. Get up. We're getting an early start today," he explained as he laid Rini with her brother.

"What? _Why?_" Zeb whined, clearly less than eager to get up so early.

"We're going to bake cookies."

XxX

In the grand scheme of things, thirty minutes more or less was not likely to make or break the Galactic Civil War, but when General Hera Syndulla awakening that same thirty minutes _after_ her morning alarm should've gone off, she was already starting her day thoroughly scolding herself.

Dressing quickly, she went around to the other cabins, pleased to see that no one else was still sleeping, both annoyed and a little touched they'd found it necessary to let _her_ sleep in. But when she found that even Chirrut and the little ones seemed to have fled the _Ghost_ for the day, she quickly found it necessary to seek out some answers. For this, her first instinct was to comm Alex.

"Good morning, Hera," the former Imperial greeted by way of answering her comm. "Sleep well?"

"Very well, thank you, but we don't exactly have time for this whole 'let's let Mom sleep in' routine. We have things to take care of. Where _is_ everyone?"

"I believe you will find the answer to that if you head over to the mess. The _Stardust_ got in very late last night and I believe you will be very pleased to see what they brought us."

"What are you up to?" she couldn't help asking as she pointed her boots in the necessary direction.

"Nothing. Nothing. Not a thing," Zeb's husband answered, not at all subtly she might add.

"You know, for an intelligence officer, you're being an awfully bad liar right now, Alex."

"Well, it all rather depends on how one defines being up to something, doesn't it."

"What are the odds Zeb would punish you for me if I asked him?"

"_Very_ good, General Syndulla," Alex answered with a slight chuckle. "Although I don't know that punishment of any sort could ever be anything _but_ a reward between Zeb and myself. In this case...I believe you will find it unwarranted."

"We'll see about that."

The first things the Alliance had gotten up and running in the half-complete base were Medical and the mess hall. If there was a guarantee of anything in this life they lived, it was that people were going to get hurt, and that people needed to eat, so that had to be provided for. And of course the cooks and their droid assistants were already hard at work preparing breakfast with what looked to be fresh crates of supplies. But this was only what was happening in the _front_ of the kitchen. It was what was happening _behind_ the flurry of morning activity that caught Hera's attention.

Jacen, Mira, and the twins were all set up at a little folding table back among the newly arrived crates, and Alex and Cassian were helping them all to mix dough of some kind. Zeb and Jyn were hanging back, probably awaiting instruction in case an extra hand was needed, while Chirrut and Baze had commandeered a crate to sit on, both sipping what she suspected was tea. Also next to the table flickered three holo figures, all of whom she recognized.

Rex, Ahsoka, and Sabine.

"Hey, Hera!" Sabine called out in a cheery voice the minute she noticed her. "It's been too long."

"What...what _is_ all this?" Hera asked, barely managing to get the words out as she looked around at all of them. Chopper warbled out an answer as he rolled up to her with a thermal full of steaming hot caf.

"Call it a baking party," Alex said as he looked up from helping Mira add some sort of extract to her mixing bowl. "Plus a little family reunion whilst we could get ahold of the others."

"We wound up with a few unexpected supplies in the latest haul," Jyn said. "So the Kallus-Orrelios boys came up with a plan."

"N- never mind Sabine and Rex. How did you get ahold of _Ahsoka?_" Hera asked, looking to the former Fulcrum agent in amazement. While the not-Jedi still worked toward the end goals of the Rebellion, not even High Command was privy to her activities any longer. Who could say where she was even transmitting from right now?

Ahsoka smiled as her attention shifted from her daughter up to Hera. "Say a little convor chick told me I ought to comm you all today. It's getting close to Mira's birthday, after all, and I'm not sure I'll be able to get through on the day of."

"Mama! Mama!" Mira cried out for her mother's attention. "I didn't tell you. Jacen and I kept the ball floating for _twenty minutes!_"

"Did you, _verd'ika?_" Ahsoka asked with a proud smile. "That's wonderful."

"Chef, leader of the New Spectres, _and_ a Force-user. Galaxy doesn't stand a chance against this one," Rex said, smiling fondly at his little girl. Hera wasn't certain she'd ever seen a father look prouder of his child than Rex always did of Mirjahaal. Often it made her wish she could've seen Kanan look at Jacen.

"So...what are we baking?" she asked, trying to shake off the errant thought.

"Achira cookies," Zeb answered, his smile a little uncertain as he looked back at her.

And maybe he was right to worry, because Hera felt something painful claw at her heart as she watched the little scene. Her eyes burned and her throat tightened with the threat of tears as she remembered a time not so different from this one – not so different and yet, somehow, utterly changed.

_Well, a rebellion without cookies is a rebellion not much worth having._

_So wise, Master Jedi._

_Wasn't it? I'll go down in the annals of the Jedi as Kanan Jarrus, Maker of Cookies._

She honestly might've burst into tears then and there had several things not happened nearly at once.

The convection unit going at the front of the little party beeped, signifying its contents were ready. Alex swiftly moved to remove the cookies from the unit, coming up with a piping hot batch of achira cookies. Half a second later, the Twi'lek heard Han Solo's voice behind her as he and Chewie entered the kitchen.

"What's this I'm hearing about _actual_ food? Oh, wow. I couldn't _tell_ you how long it's been since I've seen achira cookies. Don't mind if I do," he said, reaching for a cookie.

"Ah, Han, I wouldn't-" Jyn tried to warn him...

...just a moment too late_,_ as the former smuggler was soon yelping, dropping the cookie he'd attempted to grab before sucking his burned fingers into his mouth. Chewie guffawed at his friend's misfortune as Alex carried the baking sheet over to the table.

"Well, that's what you get for trying to steal a bite before the chefs have one," the ex-Imperial sniffed at him. "Now be careful, children. As our friend Captain Solo has demonstrated, the cookies are still quite hot."

"What's going on back here?" yet another new voice was soon joining in on the antics. Hera turned faintly to the side to see Princess Leia entering the kitchen with Luke not far behind, walking carefully beside Bodhi to make certain that the pilot was still steady on his feet, as his side was heavily bandaged.

"Oh, nothing," Cassian started. "Just Han Solo making a fool of himself, as always."

"Typical," Leia said, shaking her head.

"Unca Bo!" Rini cheered when she saw Bodhi, quickly leaping up from the table and making a toddled beeline right for him. But Luke intercepted her before she could crash into him.

"Whoa there now, little miss mudhorn," the Jedi hopeful said as he scooped her up in his arms. "Uncle Bodhi's a little sore this morning. We have to be gentle with him."

Rini's lower lip trembled and her eyes wobbled with the threat of tears as she looked at the young Jedhan pilot.

"Owie?" she asked him, looking like the galaxy was coming to an end.

"Only a little owie, _bao-bei_," he soothed her, smiling softly as he tickled her chin. Then he dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "I will be fine."

"I'd say losing a kidney to a blaster bolt is more than a _little_ owie," Jyn joked in that odd way of hers. "Still, it's a good look for the pair of you...joined at the hip with a little one in hand," she teased the two young men. And both of them blushed violently at her insinuation, but they didn't step away from each other as they had so many times before. Definitely a step in the right direction.

The tears that had been threatening momentarily waylaid, Hera looked around the space with new eyes – at Zeb, moving to help Alex and Jacen with a spill, at Cassian, helping his little boy form cookie dough into adorably misshapen balls, at Chirrut and Baze, just enjoying their tea and watching the whole thing, at Mira, only half-paying attention to what she was doing as she regaled Sabine and her parents with the exploits of the New Spectres, at Jyn and Chewie, exchanging head tousles as they continued to tenderly mock Luke and Bodhi with Rini, and at Han and Leia, the princess shaking her head as she passed the captain a small bacta patch from one of the pockets in her quilted vest. And for a moment, just a moment, she remembered with pain the two who were absent.

But then, as if from the haze of a dream, she felt the warmth at her shoulder...the quiet strength at the very core of her that told her that Kanan's love was not gone...that it never _had_ nor ever _would_ leave her. He lived in her...and he lived in Jacen. He lived in anyone he had ever touched with the light that was in him, and that light continued to live with each new person it touched. Her family had taken some grievous injuries, it was true, but...at the same time, it also continued to grow.

_Doesn't matter to me...if the fighting's ever done or not. There's always gotta be somebody around to make cookies._

"Mama?" Jacen's voice suddenly reached her ears, and when she looked at him properly, it was to see him smiling at her with a question in his eyes. "Daddy?"

"Yes, mei-mei," she whispered with an answering smile, the tears that fell now tears of joy. "Daddy."

With that, she saw Jacen reach a hand to his shoulder in a mirror of her own gesture. He closed his eyes and lifted his other hand to the cookie tray. Then, slowly, one of the cookies rose up off the sheet and drifted the short distance to her. She caught the little treat before it could tumble from the air, smiling at her son and his two uncles as she took a bite.

It wasn't one of Kanan's cookies, to be sure, but it was a cookie that existed _because_ of him, and that was enough for her.

XxX

(A/N) Well, hopefully it wasn't too...I dunno, schmaltzy there at the end. All the notation I really have for you is translations, so if you happen to be new to my Rebels fic, here are the Lasana translations.

Ni ashkerra - My love

Ni alitha - My dear/darling

L'ashkerrir an - I love you

And I've also got some Mando'a and Jedha translations.

Verd'ika - little warrior

Xino-ai - Beloved

Bao-bei - Sweetheart


End file.
